


Without You

by deliriouslyshipping



Series: T'Cherik Drabbles [7]
Category: Black Panther (2018), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-04 01:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14581728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliriouslyshipping/pseuds/deliriouslyshipping
Summary: This has somewhat of a spoiler, so if you have not seen Infinity War, do not read please :)





	Without You

**Author's Note:**

> This has somewhat of a spoiler, so if you have not seen Infinity War, do not read please :)

“N’Jadaka,” a hand brushed his shoulder, firm but understanding. Okoye. Erik tilts his head in recognition, but he could no more than that. This.. this is worse than N’Jobu with panther claws in his chest. Or maybe that is so long ago that he does not remember the pain of it, but the anger. Either way, he has not felt pain like this in so long.

 

Erik could avenge his father’s dead, but this? If the strongest motherfuckers in this world couldn’t defeat them, how could he? N’Jadaka, for once in his life, feels helpless. 

 

“I..I tried, I really did. I-” he waves his hand in the air to stop her, but the damage is too much. Each word digs the invisible blade deeper into his heart. 

 

“I know you did, Okoye, I know..” Everything hurts. Not a piece of T’Challa is left. Not a piece of clothing, not his infectious smile, not even his ring. His ring… N’Jadaka looks at his own, still laid around his neck. Now there is one copy. 

 

Erik mourns. Bucky, a friend of Captain America with one arm, was the first person other than T’Challa to speak to him. Bucky helped him grow past him wanting to kill T’Challa, kill the world. He knew exactly what that felt like, although he was brainwashed into doing so. Much later down the line, he helped him realize he was in love with the King. 

 

Not like Erik could help it anyway; the man is created so beautifully-a heart so pure that he could not handle until he got better. And he is, and he tried to fight but-

 

“ _I cannot let you go, N’jadaka.”_

 

_“Why the fuck not?” T’Challa gives him a pointed look for his cursing, but sighs. He doesn’t look like he has had much sleep since he heard news of some Titan from another planet coming to take over the universe, but who would?  
_

 

_“I cannot give you your suit back yet and we have all of our warriors. We will be fine,” but Erik sees the hesitation, calls out the bullshit.  
_

 

_“You need more and you know it. Why not me? I’ve killed in -”_   
  


_“I said ENOUGH.” N’Jadaka’s blood boils and he is mad. As controlled as he can be, he places his hands to the King’s chest and pushes him. Hard. T’Challa stumbles and Erik places himself into a fighting stance._

 

_“I’ll prove to you i can kill whatever motherfuckers come my way. I’ll beat your ass again if I need to.”  
_

 

_“Stop-” but Erik has already swung. T’Challa dodges it easy, but he is coming at him like he nothing to lose. He has everything to lose. N’Jadaka is pleading with each hit that he can kill again, but not for his blood thirst. For T’Challa. The realization has his hits become sloppy and tears brink themselves.  
_

 

_Eventually, T’Challa had enough before he grabs his cousin and throws him to the wall. The collision doesn’t hurt, but the grip on his wrist does. Erik struggles against the herb induced strength to get up, but he struggles more against his emotions-something he has been producing for the longest while._

 

_“N’Jadaka, I cannot afford to let you die.”  
_

 

_“I can’t bear to watch you die!” Erik screams in his face and the weight drops. His knees buckle and T’Challa holds him. The two settle on the floor and he cries into the vibranium woven clothing. He has never been so weak.  
_

 

_“I love you,” N’Jadaka admits after he dies down into merely sniffles, “I can’t watch you die and I’ll kill anyone or anything that gets close to you. Please.” T’Challa looks at him hard, but then kisses him, wiping away the wetness of his cheeks with his thumbs.  
_

 

_The King make love to him that night, but the decision is the same. When it is time, T’Challa kisses him once more, promising that he would come back with such confidence Erik could believe it._

 

 _“_ The fucker lied,” and Erik doesn’t remember crying. Okoye flanks him, much more silent in her pain. She is the strongest woman he has ever met. 

 

“He should’ve let me go. He-he-FUCK.” Erik thrashes, forcing himself off the ground. He punches the nearest tree and it cracks under his knuckles. He hits it until it falls onto the ground. It is not enough for his grief. He hits anything his sight until he is sure his knuckles are broken and his wrists cannot handle much more. He screams and falls to his knees again. Okoye waits it out, watches as he breaks under the weight of death once more. The sunset lays upon them and N'Jadaka cannot force himself to look at it. He lifts himself up with broken hands and walks through the ruins of battle.

 

The bodies have been removed, those that did not go  _elsewhere,_ as everyone else has decided to call it. Erik calls it dead. They are not here, they have not disappeared, they are dead.

 

The Bible said that humans were created from dust and we leave as dust, so they are  **dead.** There is no better way to say it. 

 

He finds M'Baku at the edge of the field. They do not speak to each other, but they exchange pain feet from each other. M'Baku feels pain, but no one could understand how he lost everything again. Bast, God, Fate- someone must really hate him. Everyone Erik has ever loved goes too soon. 

 

-

 

“I need to go to the Ancestral Plane,” N’Jadaka demands and he can see the wariness in her eyes. There is no King anymore. Wakanda will break. Part of Erik itches to take the role of King again, but Wakanda still fears him, even if they hide it. He cannot take King. 

 

Despite such, he goes. He sees T’Chaka, he sees his father… he made it home. He holds his father, who tells him how proud he is that he has grown. 

 

“My son, you have learned so much since we last spoke,” N’Jobu smiles and Erik smiles, despite the emptiness of his heart. T’Chaka also embraces him, declaring that he forgives him. The panthers behind them acknowledge him in welcome, as if this is his home. Like he belongs here one day. As much as that enlightens him, there is something that means much more than being accepted for once.

 

“Where is T’Challa?” But no one answers. Their faces give away nothing. His breaths become shallow and he looks around frantically. The purple hues of their sunset and the fields of grass do not reveal another panther with soft eyes, an elegant grace that could only be the one he has come to love.  A train of truth hits him, then, and the scar in the middle of his chest begins to hurt from his heart pumping so violently against the healed skin. 

 

T’Challa is not here. 


End file.
